Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy announced on Thursday that pitcher Cody Bradford will begin the season on the injured list due to a sore elbow.
Bradford received an MRI that came back clean, but the organization has opted to place him on the injured list, which will shut him down for at least 10 days in an attempt to let the injury heal, per MLB.com.
Texas will begin the regular season on March 27 with a home series against the Boston Red Sox, followed by a road series against the Cincinnati Reds beginning on March 31.
This injury is disappointing for Bradford, who spent a large portion of the 2024 season dealing with rib and back injuries. These injuries limited him to just 14 appearances, an ERA of 3.54, and 70 strikeouts.
However, Bradford was impressive when he was healthy to begin the 2024 season, posting an ERA of only 1.40 before he missed time with those injuries in April, per MLB.com.
Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young said the team is unsure how long this soreness will persist, adding that elbows are dangerous for pitchers. The team is choosing to be cautious with this approach.
“I can’t tell you if this is something that’s going to linger and last longer than a day or two to get the soreness knocked out,” he said, per MLB.com.
“We did take the necessary steps in terms of evaluating. He’s been in touch with Dr. [Keith] Meister [team physician] back in Texas. We are going to shut him down for a few days and see how this goes. Hopefully the time off will allow it to calm down. But anytime the pitcher has pain in the elbow, it’s concerning.”
The Rangers must now determine which player will start in place of Bradford to begin the season, with multiple players standing out as the most likely candidates for that role.
Bochy said the team is being “competitive” about who should start in Bradford’s place to begin the year, and two specific young pitchers are most likely to fill in for the third-year pitcher.
“We got two good candidates, as you well know. A couple of young guys, to be specific. You’re looking at [Jack] Leiter or Kumar [Rocker]. These are the things we’re talking about now. We have to make that adjustment until we get Bradford back, because he won’t be ready to open the season with us,” he said, per MLB.com.
Although both Leiter and Rocker have little experience pitching in the MLB, both players have shown flashes that indicate the potential for massive growth throughout their future careers.